Elopement or a traditional wedding ceremony?

Since we got engaged in 2015, we went through lots of stages. Indeed, the wedding as we imagine it now is very different from what we had in mind back then, and – I don’t doubt it – will surely be very different on d-day. Yes, I know there will be unforeseen changes, the weather cannot be planned, not can the last-minute cancellations, delays and incidents… but, believe me, I’m preparing everything carefully – says François: I am ZE boss when it comes to organization (and everything else in fact). But let me give you a little more details about our big day first!

Brainstorming in the plane between France and Scotland:

Remember, I told you in my previous post that the proposal was made a few days before our second trip to Scotland. In the plane, we began talking about what we’d like to do. The idea of a big wedding with a hundred guests was eliminated at once, along a long list of “traditions”. I told him “anything but wearing white and too many flowers”. Though I find floral decorations very pretty, I can’t stand the idea of cut flowers being thrown away once withered…

So, we knew from the start that we wanted a ceremony at our image, without fuss or going over the top, and with few people around us. During our Scottish trip, a first idea came to us: what about simply eloping together?The idea was to marry with only our witnesses and announce it publicly only afterwards. And, while we were at it, why not do it in Scotland… This is a great article about Elopement here, and let’s just admire this beautiful elopement on Skye Island.This idea lasted a long time, but…

Marrying abroad for French people: a very difficult feat.

We soon came down to earth as we came back to France. You must know that in France, you can only get married in the city where you or your parents live. For us, it therefore was Aix or Aix. Well.And even if you’ve been living abroad for some time, you cannot marry there. Could we have a derogation? Nope. So we decided to…

Separate the humanist and civil ceremonies.

For the civil ceremony, it was very clear: keep it simple, with only our dearests and witnesses. No party, no hall rental, nothing. The party, the real one, will be held in Scotland. So it’s all settled! The advantage of keeping the two ceremonies separate is to enjoy ourselves twice 🙂 At this point, we kept the idea of eloping together, but we planned to bring our children and witnesses with us for a one-week trip.

As you can (already?) guess, it’s not exactly what is going to happen 😉